8 Years of Torture | Vietnam War Video | Cdr Everett Alvarez Jr

In this weeks video, we had the honor of sitting down with Commander Everett Alvarez. Commander Alvarez was the second longest United States POW in United States History.

Everett Alvarez Jr. (born December 23, 1937) is a former United States Navy officer who endured one of the longest periods as a prisoner of war (POW) in U.S. military history. Alvarez was the first U.S. pilot to be downed and detained during the Vietnam War and spent over eight years in captivity, making him the second longest-held U.S. POW, after U.S. Army Colonel Floyd James Thompson.

On August 5, 1964, during Operation Pierce Arrow, LTJG. Alvarez's Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was shot down in the immediate aftermath of what is known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Alvarez endured eight years and seven months of brutal captivity by the North Vietnamese at the Hỏa Lò Prison (sarcastically known as the "Hanoi Hilton" by fellow POWs), in which he was repeatedly beaten and tortured. Alvarez was especially esteemed by his fellow prisoners because he was for almost a year the only aviator prisoner of war.

Alvarez has co-authored two books, writing of his prisoner of war experiences in Chained Eagle and Code Of Conduct.